Published: Jan 18, 2026 at 17:11
Updated: Jan 18, 2026 at 17:18
On January 15, 2026, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee officially postponed its scheduled markup of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
This bill, long heralded as the “holy grail” of American crypto regulation, hit a massive roadblock when the nation’s largest exchange, Coinbase, abruptly withdrew its support. CEO Brian Armstrong took to social media to warn that the current draft would leave the industry “materially worse off” than the current status quo, triggering a swift legislative retreat.
The flashpoints of friction
The primary catalyst for the delay was a fierce disagreement over stablecoin rewards. Traditional banking groups successfully lobbied for provisions that would effectively prohibit consumer platforms from offering yield or rewards on stablecoin holdings, arguing they represent unregulated “shadow banking.”
Additionally, the bill included broad restrictions on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) front-ends, mandating strict KYC requirements that developers claim are technically impossible to implement without destroying the core tenet of decentralization.
What happens next?
While the Senate Agriculture Committee has rescheduled its own markup for January 27, the Banking Committee’s pause signals a “cooling off” period. Lawmakers are now forced back to the drawing board to reconcile the demands of “TradFi” banks with the “Web3” innovators.
Despite the setback, White House officials maintain that passing a bipartisan market-structure bill remains a top priority for 2026, as the U.S. risks losing more crypto capital to offshore jurisdictions like the EU and Hong Kong, which have already codified their frameworks.